Notice

Contacting the Warm Home Discount helpline: privacy notice

Updated 14 February 2023

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contacting-the-warm-home-discount-helpline-privacy-notice/contacting-the-warm-home-discount-helpline-privacy-notice

This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

Your data

We will process the following personal data:

  • name
  • address
  • date of birth
  • unique letter reference number, if you have received a letter
  • property characteristics of your property
  • customer account number for your electricity supply
  • electricity meter point administration number (MPAN)

In addition, for those customers who consent to partake in research of the Warm Home Discount Scheme, we will also collect:

  • email address
  • phone number

Purpose

The purpose for which we are processing your personal data is:

  • to establish whether you are eligible for a rebate under the Warm Home Discount scheme. The data processing enables the helpline to determine if you are eligible for a rebate from your electricity supplier.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will be commissioning a research provider to deliver an evaluation of the Warm Home Discount Scheme to understand whether it is being delivered as intended and reaching its targeted groups. For those who consent, your contact details will be used for a contracted provider to contact you to partake in the research. Your experiences and views will feed into this evaluation to help DESNZ to understand the effectiveness of the scheme’s delivery.

The legal basis for processing your personal data for the purpose of establishing eligibility under the Warm Home Discount scheme is:

Article 6 (1)(e) Public task: Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller.

The Warm Home Discount scheme’s objective is to address fuel poverty, which is an objective of public interest and is laid out in law in the Schedule of The Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018 and the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000. The scheme from 2022-2023 until 2025-2026 is in the Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2022 and the Warm Home Discount (Scotland) Regulations 2022.

Section 9 of the Energy Act 2010 provides the enabling powers for the Warm Home Discount as a scheme for reducing fuel poverty.

Sections 35-37 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 and the Disclosure of State Pension Credit Information (Warm Home Discount) Regulations 2011 provide the legal gateways for the data to be shared.

The lawful basis for processing data for the evaluation of the Warm Home Discount Scheme is:

Article 6 (1)(a) Consent: You have given consent to the processing of your personal data for a specific purpose.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting WHDresearchconsent@energysecurity.gov.uk.

Recipients

Your personal data may be shared with:

  • energy suppliers participating in the Warm Home Discount scheme
  • the Department for Work and Pensions
  • DESNZ
  • contracted research provider for evaluation purposes

As your personal data will be stored on our IT infrastructure it will also be shared with our data processors Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

Retention

Your personal data will be kept by the helpline after the helpline closes at the end of March each scheme year for up to eight months and sent back to DESNZ and the Department for Work and Pensions. DESNZ and the Department for Work and Pensions will keep this data for the purpose of establishing eligibility for an agreed period of time, up to a maximum of eighteen months from receiving the data. Records of your call will be kept for up to eighteen months.

Your personal data (name contact information, address and electricity meter point administration number) will be kept by DESNZ for up to one year after the end of the Warm Home Discount evaluation. DESNZ will keep this data for the purpose of conducting any potential follow-up research after the evaluation has concluded.

The contracted research provider will delete and erase personal data following the completion of the Warm Home Discount evaluation. The contracted research provider will notify DESNZ that it has completed such deletion.

Automated decision making

Your personal data is not subject to automated decision making.

For information on the wider use of personal data under the Warm Home Discount, please see the privacy notice for establishing eligibility under the Warm Home Discount.

Where personal data has not been obtained from the data subject

We obtained your personal data from the following sources:

  • unique letter reference number: the Department for Work and Pensions
  • name and address: Department for Work and Pensions, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Valuation Office Agency, Energy Performance Certificates, His Majesty’s Land Registry
  • property characteristic data: the Valuation Office Agency, Energy Performance Certificates, and His Majesty’s Land Registry
  • receipt of benefits and Tax Credits: the Department for Work and Pensions and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
  • meter point administration number: the Electricity Enquiry Service

Your Rights

You have the right:

  • to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data
  • to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay
  • to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement
  • to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed
  • in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
  • to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes
  • where you have consented, to withdraw consent to the processing of your personal data at any time
  • to object to the processing of your personal data

Where you have provided personal data for the purpose of research, you have the right to request a copy of any personal data you have provided, and for this to be provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

International Transfers

Your personal data will be processed in the UK.

As your personal data is stored on our IT infrastructure, and shared with our data processors Microsoft and Amazon Web Services it may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK and European Economic Area. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through the use of Model Contract Clauses.

Updates to this notice

If this privacy notice changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we will share it with other parties. The ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change and the revision to the Privacy Notice will be recorded alongside the date of change. If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about misuse or mishandling of personal data, you can contact the Information Commissioner, (supervisory authority), who is an independent regulator set up to uphold information rights.

Information Commissioner's Office

Email icocasework@ico.org.uk

Contact form https://ico.org.uk/glo...

Telephone 0303 123 1113

Textphone 01625 545 860

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

Contact details

The data controller for your personal data is the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Contact the DESNZ DPO:

DESNZ Data Protection Officer
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
3-8 Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2EG

Last updated

13 February 2023 to make updates for the collection and processing of contact details for research and evaluation purposes.

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